Patience Please

I am not a patient momma. Those who know me may think, “She’s pretty patient.” But I am not. My attitudes, sharp looks, tone and inward thoughts scream loudly that I am not a patient person. Before I had children, I thought I was a patient, easy going woman (Can use say pride?!). Oh, how the Lord uses our children to humble us and show us our sin.

So, this morning as I was thinking on my lack of gentleness, patience, and kindness I was reminded of a verse in Proverbs. It is Proverbs 31:26, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” I want to be like this woman. I want to kindly speak wisdom to my children. I know that until I go to be with the Lord I will struggle with sin, but I yearn to grow more and have victory more often than not. I want to be able to ask my children to be patient with one another and us, and not feel like a hypocrite. Oh, that I would obey my God and deny myself. That’s really what it comes down to. I desire to express my own sinful feelings, more than I desire to please the Lord. Lord, forgive me and cause me to find more pleasure in denying myself and pleasing you, than acting upon my fleshly desires.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13

This woman described in Proverbs 31 was a sinner too. She was just like you and I. She needed the blood of Christ to cleanse her from her sin just as much as I do now. She needed His daily grace and mercy to enable her to walk in a worthy manner. The Lord can work these beautiful attributes of a godly woman into each of His daughters. I know He is able, and I want it!

Tummy Bug?

So, was it the stomach flu? I guess we’ll be finding out in the next couple days. My oldest son, randomly threw up yesterday at 3pm, and then at 6pm. After each episode he was happy and running around again. He was also hungry and wanting to eat. I don’t think he had a fever, and didn’t appear to have the chills, or aches. So, what was it? I pray that something didn’t sit well with him, and that it wasn’t the flu. But, I guess we’ll be finding out if it was contagious or not in the next couple of days. I loathe the stomach flu. Did I mention I don’t like it? If we get it, then that is God’s plan for us but I hope it’s not.

Good Kid’s Books

Hope you had a great Christmas! We had a very nice time with visiting with our families and enjoyed worshipping on Sunday as well. I just wanted to write quickly and share two children’s books that my boys received that are really neat. One of them is called Jimmy’s Lost Bug, by Simon Smith. It is a retelling of The Parable of the Lost Sheep. We enjoyed this simple story, and the illustrations as well. At the end the author quotes Luke 15:4-6 which opens up opportunity to share with your little one about God’s love and care for His sheep.

Tonight we read from Hymns for a Kid’s Heart. It includes a brief bio or story from the hymn writer’s life, and then the hymn. Tonight we sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” by Reginald Heber. This neat book also comes with a CD of kids singing the hymns. Abraham loves to hear music, and really enjoyed hearing other kids singing God’s praises. My only hesitation so far is that, “America the Beautiful” is one of the selections. Oh well, other than that it’s great!

Playing & Hoping

It’s kind of funny, because when I check a blog I expect to see new content each time I go to the site…which might be several times a day So, I see what a demanding reader I am. Yet, when I think about writing, there just doesn’t seem to be much to say. Interesting how that works.

It’s not that there isn’t much going on here; how could one’s life be boring or eventless with a 1 and almost 4 year old. I’ve had a desire to play and have more fun with my children. So, this morning we played farm for a while (a favorite past-time of the shortest member of our family.) Later, we baked some Pumpkin Spice bread and then laid out blankets and pillows on the floor and read stories. I especially liked this last activity because I got to lay down, and this is akin to a favorite past time of mine (read-sleeping.) We had fun, and I wasn’t too concerned with all the important things that needed to be done. I had tell myself that I was accomplishing one of the most important things I could be, nurturing the relationship I have with my boys. I know I can’t assume that they’ll always WANT to spend time with us, like they do now. Now, it seems like someone is always NEEDING one of us, but I know the time will come when they will not physically need us the way they do now. My prayer is that they will still WANT to be with us, and know us and learn from us. But most importantly I hope and pray that they will desire the God we worship, to know and learn from Him. May He use us to lead these two precious ones (and hopefully more) to Himself.

Apparently I did have something to say. Fancy that. Well, there’s much to do around here…hope you’re not holding your breath too long for the next post from me!

Benner is walking

Our little boy is having so much fun taking steps. He now walks a few steps at a time, and he seems to be pretty happy about it. It’s so adorable to see his little waddle and those arms trying to balance. His brother gets so excited for him. Ben is so big already. I’m amazed at how fast their little lives go. God has been so good to us in allowing us to be the parents of these little ones!

What’s a Surprise?

My sweet little boy went Christmas shopping with me tonight while the baby slept at home as Daddy studied. He’s always excited to do something special; something one-on-one. So, we walked around Fry’s for awhile looking for the last of Daddy’s presents. I found the speaker section and perused for awhile. He did great waiting patiently, trying not to watch the yucky, scary show that was on one of the TVs. Anyhow, as we pulled up to our house I had this terrible feeling that I’d forgotten to actually put the speakers into the trunk. Thankfully they were in the trunk, and I had the little guy go into the house and ask Daddy to stay inside his office as I brought the package in to hide it. Now, Abe and I had just had an extensive conversation about what we’d gotten Grandpa for Christmas and how we were NOT going to tell Grandpa what we’d gotten him.

“Why Momma.”

“Because lovey, it wouldn’t be a surprise if you told him what it is. That’s part of the fun, letting the person discover what their present is when they open it.”

“Momma, we’re not going to tell him because it’s a SURPRISE.”

I was sure he’d fully grasped the idea. No problem. I was confident in his ability to keep this secret. It would be fun. We had a secret and I knew he could keep it. As, I’m hiding the box in the closet little Abraham comes with a sheepish grin and says, “Mommy, I told Daddy about his present.” I thought he was teasing. As I probed he insisted that he had in-fact told Daddy about his SPEAKERS! I went into the office and Ryan looks up at me laughing. He reminds me how sensitive and tender our little one is…and so I look down and tell Abe it’ll be ok. It’s pretty funny and cute…I guess he’s only 3 and secrets are soooo exciting. It’s hard for me not to spill the beans too.

Just a Test

I want to see what a few things look like.

Here is a blockquote. How does it look?